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<p>Encuentros Leadership, a North County nonprofit helping Latino boys to stay in school since 2003, is creating a chapter in the South County.</p>
<p>A group of around 20 people, including business, education and political leaders, gathered at the South County Regional Education Center this Thursday, May 19, for an organizational meeting as part of a 20-step projected timeline for the creation of the South County Chapter.</p>
<p>“The organization was created after a North County Newspaper published a series of stories about the alarming high school drop out rates of Latino males,” said Encuentros Leadership Founder and Executive Director, Roberto Rivas. “There was a 55 percent dropout rate of high school Latino boys in North County.”</p>
<p>Encuentros Leadership started working with Vista and Oceanside school districts and created a classroom curriculum that was written in 2003 and updated in 2013 for high school Latino boys.</p>
<p>The classroom curriculum is one of five programs created by the non-profit to encourage and support boys of Latino descent to achieve optimal performance in education.</p>
<p>“The classroom curriculum is one of the most important programs,” added Rivas. “It started in 2006 and students from grade 6 form part of it.”</p>
<p>The curriculum is based on the textbook “Encuentros: Hombre a Hombre” and was launched as an education project at two middle school sites in North County, and the Vista Unified School District later agreed to implement it.</p>
<p>More than 650 Latino boys have being part of the Leadership Academy that started in 2006, as one of the programs for Encuentros Leadership.</p>
<p>The academy is held every year at the University of San Diego with 50 boys, and it consists in a weeklong college preparatory experience focused on coaching academically qualified grade 10 and 11 Latino male students on how to successfully navigate the rigors of college life and beyond.</p>
<p>“95 percent of the students that participated in the academy, are fulfilling their college education,” said Rivas. “They are getting their bachelor degrees.”</p>
<p>There is also the STEAM Education and Career Exploration Conference for Latino boys, as one of the programs, and its held once a year, since 2004.</p>
<p>The one-day conference teams up Latino professionals from different sectors like business, education and government agencies to deliver personal and professional advice to around 600 middle and high school Latino boys.</p>
<p>In 2013, a program called “Platicas: Hombre a Hombre” was created to put together a boy with his father in a six-week workshop held at the boy’s middle or high school, so the parents can help their sons with the student life.</p>
<p>“We have also started School Clubs called Encuentros Liderazgo held at the schools,” added Rivas. “This programs work, we have all the data to support it.”</p>
<p>The organization started with around 50 members in the North County, and is looking for partners in different sectors like business, education and political to create a South County Chapter.</p>